Five Ways To Shift Attention From Me To We

For Vikram Tandon, HR head, HSBC India and his team, it was another day at work. They sat together with the CEO to review the performance of the team for past six months, discussed plans for the year ahead and issues that need to be taken up with each individual and ideas for the coming months. To cultivate the success of others, managers need to shift the focus from ‘me’ to ‘we’. Shreya Biswas points out important aspects of teamwork. 

Communicate Openly
Managers should keep the channels of communication open between their team members and their bosses. There should be constant flow of information and the manager should try to facilitate such process rather than hinder the same. The leaders will know who is doing what and whether the team is aligned to organisational goals. Team members, on the other hand, will have confidence about their efforts being in line with company’s growth and their individual growth.

Be Transparent
Amanager needs to prioritise actions of fellow members towards a common goal. Share the status of a project at regular intervals, do reviews on what’s done and what needs to be done to achieve the target on time. Identify what skill sets are suited best for which employee and assign work accordingly to people. “Recognise people for the good work they do. This will bring a sense of belonging amongst them and they will always do bit extra to help the project,” says a Delhibased IT company manager .

Build Credibility
Amanager should first act and then preach the same to his team mates. It doesn’t help anyobe when a manager just issues orders without following himself. Build credibility by way of ideation, giving right direction to projects and leading by example when it’s needed. When people see you taking the lead in everything, they will listen to what you say and there will be no need to pressurize them to get the work done. They will know if the leader is putting extra effort for the team’s good,” says Uday Chawla, managing partner, Transearch International, India.

Celebrate Success
If a project is successful and appreciated by the top leadership, don’t forget to convey to them that it was a collective effort . People will tread the same path. There will be a feeling of harmony and they will be motivated to perform as a team. “It will do a world of good to not only company’s performance but team and individual growth as well. Managers should remember everybody has to work towards a common goal to achieve success,” says Mr Chawla.

Seek Feedback

If there are troubled teams and managers are struggling to keep up the performance, there will be a constant churn of people in the team and a high rate of absenteeism. Some basic issues plaguing many teams are managers taking credit for the team members’ work and providing one sided feedback on employee performance to hide one’s incompetence. Seek a 360 degree feedback to ascertain the right reasons for such cases. “If they have done well as individuals and are failing as leaders, provide them with coaches to come out of the crisis. The team performance might improve or else change the manager for a role he is suited” explains Mr Tandon.

(The Economic Times, Mumbai, 24-06-2011)